Spartanburgers to compete in High-A South Atlantic League with Drive, 'healthy rivalry'

The Hub City Spartanburgers are moving up.

The team announced Tuesday that it will compete in the High-A South Atlantic League (SAL) when the 2025 season starts.

This new designation puts them in direct competition with the Greenville Drive, as well as the Asheville Tourists, the Bowling Green Hot Rods, and the Winston-Salem Dash and Rome Emperors, both also owned by Diamond Baseball Holdings.

"It's something that, for us, is really exciting because it does put us in the same league as the Greenville Drive and Asheville Tourists, so two teams that are right down the road from us that we can create a healthy rivalry with," Hub City Spartanburgers General Manager Tyson Jeffers said. "Hopefully, it'll be something that we can use as a way to benefit all the different communities that are involved, whether that's through player appearances or different things that we do as organizations to work together and bring everyone together."

The close proximity and natural rivalry were also noted by Greenville Drive General Manager Eric Jarinko.

“From a rivalry perspective, I’m sure, with the two teams separated by 30 miles, the fans from our region will really get behind it, really enjoy it. It's kind of unprecedented across Minor League Baseball to have two teams this close to each other," Jarinko said. "This will also, because of the realignment that Major League Baseball did in 2021 when we moved up to High-A and the other teams in South Carolina stayed in Low-A, actually be the first time since 2019 that we will play another team from the state of South Carolina.”

For the Drive, the baseball season is not over yet. The Drive has 18 home games left this season and potential playoff games and that is where Jarinko says his focus is for now.

The team that will be the Hub City Spartanburgers is playing as the Down East Wood Ducks in Kinston, North Carolina, in the North Division of the Single-A Carolina League. The Spartanburgers will take the Hickory Crawdads’ place in the South Atlantic League while the Crawdads, another Texas Rangers affiliate owned by Diamond Baseball Holdings, return to the Carolina League.

"From a baseball perspective, it puts us at a higher level than we were expecting, which means we'll have a higher level of player that comes through the organization, and it gives our fans the opportunity to see players that will hopefully be wearing Rangers uniforms shortly down the road," Jeffers said. "And that's always a cool story when you have players that came through Spartanburg, and then, a couple of years later, they're on TV playing for the Texas Rangers."

The team will begin playing at Fifth Third Park on South Daniel Morgan Avenue in downtown Spartanburg in April 2025. Jeffers said the team's home schedule will be released very soon.

The announcement was also met with excitement by the city, who will own the $58.76 million stadium. City of Spartanburg Communications Manager Christopher George said the city hopes the local competition will make the new baseball team's arrival even more exciting for residents.

"We're thrilled to learn that the team will compete in the High-A South Atlantic League next year. The opportunities to play against nearby teams like the Tourists and the Drive will add another layer of excitement for locals and visitors as Minor League Baseball returns to Spartanburg next year," George said.

Samantha Swann covers city news, development and culture in Spartanburg. She is a University of South Carolina Upstate and Greenville Technical College alumna. Contact her at sswann@shj.com or on Instagram at @sam_on_spartanburg.

This article originally appeared on Herald-Journal: Spartanburgers to compete in High-A South Atlantic League with Drive, 'healthy rivalry'